Month: October, 2011

by mollykl

Sorry for the long silence, but life has been…well, life…..

The new year has not turned out the way I’d hoped. But I have a nice list of resolutions that I am bound and damned determined to work on. They’re not really “resolutions” in the way that the January New Year ones are, more of a “what I want to accomplish” list. There’s no “lose ten pounds” , but there is a “learn ancient Greek”.

So here it is, my list of what I want to accomplish in this year of 2011/12/5772.

1. Write a novel. Yeah, this is a big one. I’ve actually started on one. It’s the easier of the two. I started with two ideas, and figured I’d just write when I wanted to on both of them. November, being NANOWRIMO, will focus on the second, infinitely more difficult version, which I’ve spent five months researching, but haven’t started writing yet. Husband J says I should not be nervous, just dive in, but apparently he hasn’t met me.

2. Work for IPL more. I love it when I’m doing it…so why don’t I check in more?

3. Hike Desolation. I don’t even want to go overnight, just a really long day hike. But with asthma and that f-ed up calf, hiking is a chore. So I need to get back into yoga (to improve my lung function and stretch out that muscle), start running to lose a wee bit of weight and hit the local trails to get the hang of it.

4. Learn to kayak. This one is random. I was out on the bike trail one morning and saw people on the water and thought, “Wow that looks peaceful.” I’d apparently forgotten that I was afraid of water when I put it on the list. So I’ll need to work on my swimming and take some lessons.

5. Plant and grow a garden I’m proud of. This year’s was a good try. We actually got some tomatoes we could eat so I’ll call it a qualified success. But next year can be better. I just need to plan and prep.

6. Learn ancient Greek. Well, why not? I’ve already got quite a bit of the alphabet down. I just want to learn enough to read Sappho in the original.

by mollykl

Thank you Steve Jobs. Because of you, tonight when son J mentioned that he was learning the song “America the beautiful” in school, I was able to pull up video on my phone of Ray Charles singing it, so he could see and hear how it was really supposed to be done. And of Johnny Cash singing “This land is your land”, which he learned last week. And, well, I’m not sure what’s next, because quite honestly I’m not sure when your influence isn’t going to affect my life, or son J’s for that matter.

In 1986 I was one of only a handful of people who had a “personal computer” at college. I lugged it back from the mail room and set it up. The screen was black and green, and I only used it for the word processor, but three years later I wrote my senior project (“Jane Austen and Father Daughter Relationship”) on it. It was an Apple, of course. And a handful of years later I was in Portland, with my now-husband-then-boyfriend’s friends looking at a now (and then) relic saying “WHAT is that?”. I had to explain that “before” the Mac, there were Apple computers.

The i-phone, the i-pod (without which I’m not sure I could make it through ad day) and the i-pad were not even in our dreams. Those are great. Life-changing, one might say.

What is better? Being able to share Ray Charles and Johnny Cash with my son.